Prodeus | Review - An exciting old-fashioned FPS

Before I started Prodeus, I admit, I didn't know what I was going to face. According to the description on the Xbox store, the video game developed by Bounding Box Software looks like an old school shooter inspired by famous works such as DOOM Eternal and Quake by id Software, the famous Texan studio that is part of the large ZeniMax Media family. , former owner of Bethesda Softworks, acquired by Microsoft and the Xbox division led by Phil Spencer two years ago.

A world in collapse, shootings and many, many deaths. Once past the home screen, the welcome was brutal and wild, as befits a video game that captures the winning elements of the aforementioned titles. The welcome committee, which I hoped would at least show me the way out of that hell, was made up of humanoids surrounded by electricity, probably angry at the expensive bills. And no, they weren't as friendly as I hoped.

I became aware of the situation, I woke up and, as I opened my eyes, I found myself in a strange place and never seen before, and I breathed a sigh of relief , because at least I wasn't in hell. This was great news and, for sure, I wasn't even on Mars. Looking closer, I wasn't even in a fantasy where the Nazis won the war, impersonating a bleached blond with Polish and Jewish descent who slices them with a hatchet, sowing panic and destruction among their ranks. No, none of this.| zone: tag crm_srl-th_gamedivision_d_mh2_1 slot id: th_gamedivision_d_mh2 "); }
The walls, telling the old stories of a nefarious past, leave no room for further interpretations: humanity has passed from there and has left evident signs like wounds that are impossible to heal , which cannot be removed with a transfer, and which must be kept on display, so that everyone sees how violent the past can be. It is an asteroid, not hell or Mars, a place that once housed a mine that supplied the planets where human beings dwell with raw materials through dedicated agencies, which do their utmost for the common good, as well as the entire Galaxy. Too bad, however, this does not involve the protagonist of Prodeus, of whom very little is known: he wears a helmet, a suit and has a personal story that he does not know and that he does not have time to tell.

D 'on the other hand, he must shoot, survive and kill, vanquishing creatures of any kind, even the most dangerous, demonstrating how violence is in reality the only way to survive the oppression of a now irrecoverable universe. The cosmos is threatened by creatures that come from the very core of an asteroid: human beings have been too greedy not to realize that they have awakened a primordial power, capable of disintegrating any form of life and of putting on fire what remains of the humanity, dispersed and never united in the dark depths of the universe. The work therefore embraces a sci-fi style that reaches its peak, with an intriguing and powerful context, offering multiple interpretations in telling the end of everything, proposing it in an enjoyable way. We would have preferred, however, for the developers to tell something more about the protagonist, in such a way as to have elements necessary to understand in the right way his real intentions and the main purpose of his mission. The only information you have about him, in fact, concerns the summaries at the beginning of each level, useful for fully understanding what is happening.


Generic photos If on the one hand there is therefore an interesting context, on the other there is a remarkable attention to detail for an independent studio which, in its first work, has managed to create an exciting experience and precise, as well as offering an indirect plot that can only be accurately understood by exploring the levels of production. Between those rusty walls, between those damaged pillars and steel piers, there is a past just waiting to be discovered.

Shoot, kill and repeat

As I mentioned before, Prodeus is a first person shooter inspired by genre classics such as Quake and Doom. From them, precisely, it takes the interface, recognizable to anyone who has played one of these two works in the past. Below are the vitality and the shield, and to the side are the ammo. The only difference, in fact, is that there is no weapon wheel, but a special selector, which is easy and intuitive to use. The gunplay, on which the playful structure of the work is obviously based, is excellent and varied thanks to the use of the weapons that you decide to use. If the shotgun is essential when the enemies are more numerous, the machine guns - which can be equipped in both hands - are tempting alternatives to slaughter the creatures generated automatically in the various levels of production. In addition to being well implemented, gunplay gives the gaming experience a continuous dose of fun. In this sense, it is precisely the rhythm that has entertained me, with extreme clashes at times exaggerated, and with many enemies on the screen.

As I ran from one side to the other, recovering the shields and the ammunition necessary to continue, I was worried not to be hit by the enemies, who often pursued me with sudden and brutal blows, but certainly not unexpected at all. In short, Prodeus is a fun shooter, built to enhance the player's abilities as well as to meet the needs of newbies, while maintaining an excellent choice between the various challenge modes, in total six, which are suitable for everyone. It is a point in favor that, together with the game design, makes the work unique and satisfying, offering an honest and clear experience, the victim of some smudging that obviously does not undermine the rest of the production.



Generic photos It is clear that the inspiration comes directly from the works of id Software, and that proposing something original was extremely complex, especially if the intentions of the development team were to resume the winning mechanics of Quake and DOOM. What has not convinced me are the Nexus Points, the checkpoints scattered throughout the levels which, unfortunately, are almost in any room, thus giving the player a way to never find himself in difficulty and with a loophole always nearby, perhaps helping him too much. Their presence, in fact, is extremely misleading at higher levels of challenge, and the best way to fully enjoy the game experience is to try to balance it and opt for a middle ground before embarking on the adventure. br>
Outside of the clashes, there is also a map on which you can decide which path to follow: it is actually an extremely linear road, with story missions and others that can unlock or improve the weapons equipped during the experience . On some occasions I have also enjoyed fighting in arenas to hone my skills, later dedicating myself to the main missions. Everything is built for the player to explore and study the level design of the levels: in this regard, each of them has been outlined with care and passion, prompting the player to collect collectibles to earn all the coveted objectives or trophies that are always coveted by those who tries to wrap up every aspect of a video game. Furthermore, the production even offers the possibility of replaying all the levels and their sequences to search for the perfect final score, consequently increasing the various possibilities of approach, as well as the hours spent inside it.

Pixel art has never looked so good

I admit it, I love pixel art and I think it is fortunate that it is passed down from video game to video game. Recently, several have been published: I am referring to independent productions and noble works, which use pixel art to best describe a context and setting. Prodeus is a title made up of breathtaking places, and it fits this graphic style very well, offering more modernized animations than other productions that use pixel art. The eye, on the other hand, wants its part and this small team, using all its talent, was able to offer a respectable graphics sector. The sound, excellent from every point of view, is made up of metal solos created for the occasion, which marry in an appropriate way with the actions that are performed and with the atmospheres of the production.

On the technical side not we have nothing to complain, so much so that Prodeus keeps sixty frames per second, and we have not encountered any bugs or interpenetrations, with fast loading times, which threw us in the middle of the action without too much hesitation. Publishing a video game is not an easy task, especially when you need to make yourself known to both the specialized press and the public and you need to make as few mistakes as possible. Bounding Box Software, however, has been able to use its skills intelligently, managing to recreate a doom-like capable of having its say, making it fun from start to finish. It is a team that, for sure, could surprise with other productions in the future. With Prodeus he just introduced himself.